


Covalence

by orphan_account



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gallifrey, Gen, M/M, Multiple Universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-07-27
Updated: 2012-07-27
Packaged: 2017-11-10 21:09:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 15,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/470719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This story concerns the events that occurred after Theta Sigma, Koschei, and Ushas graduated from the Prydonian Academy, all the way up until the Doctor appears in The Unearthly Child. </p>
<p>At the start of the story, the Doctor, Master, and Rani are all on trial for different things, and their TARDISes are forced together, trapping them, much to everyone’s dislike. The last thing any of them want is to be trapped with each other. However, when they try to escape and separate, something goes wrong, and they find themselves in far more danger than they could have possibly imagined.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Not quite finished, progress will be slow.

Only twenty years out of the Academy, and the Doctor already found himself arrested by the high courts of Gallifrey. He was making a great start, that was for sure. And they were still calling him Theta. He found it rather degrading, as he had chosen his name at graduation, one that suited him much better. 

“Theta Sigma, we have decided on your sentence.” The judge leered down at the Doctor from the podium, and the Doctor stared right back at him, unfazed. 

“There is nothing wrong with what I did. Just because the rest of you choose not to interfere does not mean I cannot! I was doing something good - “

The judge cut him off.

“Perhaps you were sleeping during your law classes at the Academy, but it is very obvious that we have laws forbidding interference. Time Lords observe, Theta Sigma. They do not interfere. But do not worry. You won’t be alone in your sentence. We have a punishment for two others, who I think you know…” The judge smiled, and two other people were brought into the court room, handcuffed.

The Doctor snuck a brief glance back at them and flinched, turning away. He recognized them both, and suddenly felt terribly afraid. The woman he could handle, but the man…how could he face him after what had happened, so long ago?

“All three of you will be placed under…house arrest, if you will. Until your next regenerations. Ushas, Koschei, and Theta. It seemed fitting to put you together, since you had been such good friends at the academy…” The judge smiled at all of them, and the Doctor had never felt such a need to run. He had to get away from the Master. Had to. 

“Your TARDISes will be merged. Unable to travel, unless we deem it so. And you will wear tracking collars at all times.” The judge said, and the Doctor felt his insides squirm as he was tugged toward the Master and the Rani.

The Master and the Rani were both inert within their captors’ grasps, and the Doctor soon saw why. They already wore the tracking collars, and he could feel the crackle of electricity from each one. Fantastic. So if they tried to escape, the Time Lords would zap them to death. 

“I beg of you, _please_! What I did may have been irreversible, but it benefited a species! Advanced them! I am not of the same stuff as these two. I am not malevolent!” The Doctor begged, but the guards already had begun to drag him away with the other two Time Lords. He caught the Master’s leer as they dragged him away, and cringed. 

The Rani spoke, her voice raspy. 

“How long am I stuck with these two…?” Her eyes were glazed with fatigue, and her hair was frizzing at the ends from electricity, the Doctor presumed.

“Until you regenerate next, and reform,” the judge said, his voice emotionless. “It is our hope that your next regenerations will be sufficiently more moral.” 

And that was the last thing the Doctor heard before they shut the door behind him, taking him to the merged TARDISes. When he saw them, he recoiled, stumbling and sinking to the ground.

“What have you done…? This is an abomination…” The Doctor let out a cry as the guard picked him back up again. But he could only stare at his TARDIS, his poor TARDIS, twisted irreversibly to fit with the Rani’s and Master’s TARDISes. He could feel in his head how her circuitry had been warped, how she had spent so much time _burning,_ simply to become his prison. He nearly wept. The damage seemed irreversible. He let out a cry as the guard snapped an electric collar shut around his neck, and all three Time Lords were shoved inside.

“My crimes are not as great as theirs! Let me out! This is unjust!” The Doctor cried, but he realized he was speaking to a door. There was a silence, and he heard the Master’s unhinged laugh in back of him.

“Of course it’s unjust, Doctor. But do you think they’d pass up an opportunity to capture you? You’re our most famous renegade…” The Master’s tone was taunting, dripping with scorn. The Doctor scrambled away, feeling himself begin to panic. He felt the Master and the Rani watch him leave, but he didn’t care. He had to get away from them both; he couldn’t face the Master.

He half ran, half crawled into his twisted TARDIS, slamming the door behind him, collapsing against its wall. The TARDIS still moaned and whined with the pain of having been twisted so, and he felt his insides curl with the rhythm of it, terribly frightened. He heard the collar buzz against his neck, and was afraid to touch it. 

It was so dark in here, the only light an eerie blue glow from the TARDIS’s core. Everything else was dead.

“…oh, my girl. What have we gotten ourselves into?”


	2. Chapter 2

“Your boyfriend’s afraid of you,” the Rani said dryly, stuffing her face with a continuous stream of food that emerged from the food replicator. She tossed the Master a small loaf of bread and he caught it, immediately devouring it.

“Not my boyfriend,” the Master snarled through his food, taking an extra voracious bite. “And that is such a silly, human word. Will you quit using it? You sound like him.” The Rani merely sniffed at him over her bowl of salad.

“What did they throw you in here for, anyway? It must have been worse than that giant rat you experimented on.” The Master tore into his bread, imagining that it was the Doctor coming apart before him, bit by bit. 

“More experimentation. They didn’t like it when I tried my ideas on Time Lords.” The Rani grinned at him, and the Master was surprised by how much it unsettled him. But then again, he couldn’t really talk.

“And you, Ko?” 

“Don’t call me that.” The Master glowered into his bread, and didn’t answer. That was not a name _anyone_  could call him. 

“Answer me, glasses boy.” The Rani poked him, and he let out another snarl. 

“Fine.” The Master finished his bread, standing up to face her. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Do you recall that string of murders a while back? When nearly all the prominent Gallifreyan politicians died? That was me.”

The Rani blinked. “…ah. Well. Good riddance, then. It’s too bad they caught you. The world could always do with ridding of people like that.”

The Rani fell silent, as well as the Master. They ate for a while, and then the Master heard a sound that made him cringe.

“He’s fucking _crying_. The sop.” The Master had no pity for the Doctor, no matter how tiny and scared his sobs were. He could barely hear the sounds through the Doctor’s locked door, but they were horrendously aggravating all the same. The Rani gave him a level look, but said nothing. 

The Master finally could not stand it anymore. He got up and kicked at the Doctor’s door, trying to get him to stop.

“Oy! Either shut up, or come out here!” 

The Doctor’s sobs slowly softened, and they eventually stopped. Good. He would have none of that crying nonsense if they all had to live together. He was already formulating plans to escape, but he wouldn’t be able to concentrate with sniveling in the background. Then he jolted as the door opened in front of him, and he found himself face to face with the Doctor.

The Doctor’s eyes were furious, and tears still lingered on his face. It had been so very, very long since they had even stood this near to each other, and the Master felt the back of his neck prickle uncomfortably. He wanted to run away, but he stopped himself. _No. That’s what **Theta**  does. Theta runs. Koschei does not. _

Without a word, the Doctor shoved past him, walking silently toward the kitchen. All right then. So it was going to be silent treatment time? That was certainly fine with the Master. And now to figure out a plan to escape…

Luckily, the Doctor had not closed the door behind him. He had hoped that that would happen, because he needed to examine the inside of the Doctor’s TARDIS. He crept in, closing the door silently behind him. He gaped at the inside of the Doctor’s TARDIS, a bit horrified. His TARDIS was more damaged than the Master’s, and if the Master was correct, the Time Lords had made it the center of this impossible, inert ship. 

He paused his examination for a moment, just looking at the machine. Poor, poor thing. He hoped, if they ever managed to escape, that she would recover. He hated the Doctor, but no one could deny that his TARDIS was absolutely beautiful. He set himself down and began to work at the wires, figuring out which ones would work best if they orchestrated an escape. 

There was only one escape route he could think of, and he wasn’t even sure if it was possible. But with luck, they could slip through that route, and not only escape, but their electric collars would be disabled. They would be free to explore the entire multiverse, beyond what any Time Lord had dreamed of. The Time Lords didn’t know what they had done by merging these three TARDISes. But the Master would experiment, figure out how he could use this to his advantage.

Of course, it was very possible that they all would die. But he would have to take that risk. And anyway, it was something to do. He would rather die than be like the Doctor, sniveling about fear and lost love in the corner.


	3. Chapter 3

The Doctor did not know how long he had been trapped with the Rani and the Master. Days? Weeks? It was an endless stretch of grey, punctuated only with meals and the occasional odd noise from the inside of his TARDIS. He avoided them both, only engaging in conversation with the TARDIS, when he felt up to it. He could only bear to speak with her for so long, however. When their minds connected, all he could feel was her agony from being twisted, and despite the comfort he tried to offer, all he could hear was her cries in his head. So he had taken a few days off from speaking with her, to have a little silence.

Sometimes the Rani would knock on his door, ask him to come out. But he never took her up on the offer; he was too afraid of the Master. He had made eye contact with him once, the day they had first arrived, and he had avoided his gaze ever since. He would sometimes look at him out of the corner of his eye, but he would quickly correct that behavior once he noticed it, making sure to avoid the Master’s presence entirely.

One day, however, he found a slip of paper on his placemat when he had snuck out of his TARDIS for a late dinner. Something was scrawled on it, and in English, oddly. He picked it up gingerly, hoping it wasn’t from the Master and coated in anthrax. 

The last part was what made his insides churn in terror.

_So yes, I am going to need your help._

The Doctor blinked and read it again, scarcely able to believe what he was reading. The Master was mad, positively mad. …not that he didn’t know that, but they would all get electrocuted if they tried this. It was nuts.

_Doctor -_

_I have been working these past three days_ (It had only been three days? The Doctor felt hazy, as if he had been there for much longer) _, and I have figured out a way to escape this wretched prison. I do not know if it would free our TARDISes, but it is the only thing anyone has thought of. I dare not speak to you out loud, for I am sure there are microphones in these collars. I have been manipulating the core of each of our TARDISes, synchronizing them. If we all try to dematerialize at the same time, it should create enough of a temporal disturbance to either dislodge the hybrid ship from the Time Lord’s hold, separate our TARDISes, or both. They may activate the electric collars. But if we do it fast enough, the temporal disturbance should be able to cut off contact. The Rani has agreed to assist me, and your cooperation is imperative. I, frankly, want to discontinue sharing the same lodgings with you as soon as possible. If you cooperate with us now, we will be able to go our separate ways. No harm done._

_I know what you’re thinking. You don’t want to help me, you hate me, I’m a demented freak. I get that. But I want away from you, and you want away from me._

_So yes, I am going to need your help._

_-Master_

The Doctor continued to stare at the note, a bit unsettled. More than a bit, really. First of all, this would involve contact with the Master, contact he wasn’t sure he could handle. And second of all, what if they all died? He didn’t want to die, not here, not now. They’d let him out if he regenerated…but the collars might not let him regenerate. And he didn’t want a new face just yet.

Before he could make his decision, however, he felt a tug on his hand. He jolted, jumping upward and letting out a strangled sound, snatching his hand back. 

“That note’s been under your placemat for three days now. I was hoping you were just making your decision, but I see you are too daft to even notice the thing.” The Rani stood in front of him, her eyes cold. “We demand your cooperation now; you have no choice. Especially since you dawdled. The Master sent me in place of himself to tell you this, he would rather not touch you or be near you.” She shrugged at the last bit. “His words, not mine. Now come with me.” She grabbed his wrist again and tugged him forward, and the Doctor flailed, protesting. 

“I did not agree to this! Let me go!” The Doctor screeched, but the Rani’s grip was very strong, and she shoved him inside his TARDIS.

“Now. It is imperative you do this quickly. You will hear my yell from my TARDIS, and you will do what the Master said in the letter. If you do not cooperate, we will be stuck, and we will all die.” The Rani rushed off, shoving him into the console. The Doctor braced himself, flustered and alarmed. She expected him to - how could he - what was going on? 

“NOW!” The Rani’s voice echoed through the TARDIS, and he jumped, startled. The electric collar seemed suddenly five times as tingly, crackling with sparks. It was now or never. This was better than dying, wasn’t it? He turned switches and levers, and heard the TARDIS begin to screech. Oh bloody hell, he had left the parking brake on. There was a terrible din in all three TARDISes, and the behemoth machine lurched, throwing the Doctor to the ground. His head slammed into the side of one of the chairs, and he fell into blackness.


	4. Chapter 4

The realization that one is not dead is always a nice one. The Master noted this as he emerged from his groggy stupor, smiling into the grating of the TARDIS floor. This was going to leave a mark, certainly. Oh well. He put a hesitant hand up to his collar, and rejoiced when he realized that there was no buzzing. The collar was deactivated. And if they had been lucky, the TARDISes would be separate now, on their separate ways.

He pushed himself up, bracing himself against the console, waiting for his head to stop throbbing. He made a note to research how to prevent the lurching problem in regard to TARDISes; that had been an awful fall. But he was alive, and that was all that mattered.

The Master slowly registered that he could not see. He had pushed himself up to the console by feeling only; the inside of his TARDIS was completely dark. He switched a few levers, trying to get it to turn on. It gave a weak flicker, but then sputtered into blackness. Well. This was an unpleasant development. 

He blundered toward the door, hoping he could at least figure out where he was, and perhaps let a little light in. Before he could get to the door, however, someone knocked on it.

The Master blinked, hoping it was just the TARDIS’s normal clanking sounds. But the knock came again, more frantic this time. How could someone possibly know this was a TARDIS? The chameleon circuit worked fine. He hesitantly opened the door, and when he saw who it was, he slammed the door shut in the man’s face, letting out a stream of swears. 

“Master…!” The Doctor’s voice was faint outside the door, and sounded frightened. Had the Doctor seriously followed him in his TARDIS? …no, that couldn’t be. The TARDISes must not have separated after all. This was the only explanation. He decided, however, that the best thing to do to the Doctor was to ignore him. If something was really imperative, the Rani could fetch him. The Master did not want to see the other man’s face, not for a very long while. There was a silence, and then the Doctor called him again.

“Master! Please.” The Doctor knocked on the door again, four times. The Master snarled and muttered to himself, thinking of the drums.

“…the Rani’s unconscious. And I don’t know where we are. Come out and see. Please.” And then, in a quieter voice. “…I need you.”

Ohhhhh, yes. Of course, the Doctor needed him now, when he needed his scientific knowledge. Never in the way he used to. The Master grumbled to himself, refusing to get up. The Doctor could sort this out himself; the Master wanted to fix his own TARDIS first.

“Master. Come on, now, you’re being childish. I can hear you muttering to yourself.” The Doctor sounded exasperated, and although this irritated the Master, it was a nice change from the terrified sniveling sounds he had been making earlier. After a silence, he pushed himself up and opened the door. He brushed past the Doctor, not looking at him.

“…how is your TARDIS? Mine is all dark.” The Master kept his tone even and emotionless, wanting only to exchange necessary information with this man. He felt the Doctor’s eyes on him as they walked, but made a point not to meet his gaze.

“Mine is flickering softly. Not quite dead. She’ll be all right. And yours might need to recover from shock.” The Doctor said, sounding just as emotionless as the Master. Good. The Master would ensure that their spoken words would stay this way.

“But we can worry about that later. You need to look outside.” The Doctor’s tone became frightened again, but the Master realized that it was not because of him, for once. They approached the front door of the massive tri-TARDIS, and the Doctor put a hand on the doorknob. He hesitated.

“…I…I don’t know where we are. The TARDIS viewscreen is dead. And I’ve never seen any place like this before. I’d say it’s the void, but it’s impossible to get into the void…it would violate so many laws of physics.” The Doctor pushed open the door, and the Master could not stop himself from gaping. He had never seen such blackness. This was blackness that sucked at a person, called them in, tricked them into falling into an abyss. He squinted, trying to make anything out within the incredible darkness, and as his eyes adjusted to the light, he could make out very soft gridlines in the blackness. 

It was the oddest sensation, seeing the gridlines, and the Master shook his head to clear it. There seemed to be a plane of gridlines in every direction, if he looked hard enough, but they all still seemed to form a visible, three dimensional space. He had read about something like this in physics class; they had studied other dimensions, but were taught that the dimensions were tucked away, hidden from view. Perhaps they were more visible here, wherever this was. He felt as if he was getting lost in it, and he slowly stepped forward, wondering if he could stand on it. 

The Doctor grabbed his wrist sharply, jolting him back to normal. He shook the irritating embrace away, but backed up so he was safely inside the TARDIS again. Finally, he let himself look at the Doctor. 

“…what in the hell is out there?” The Master breathed, and the Doctor looked just as unnerved as he did. Then the Doctor nudged him.

“Listen.”

The Master turned his ear in the direction of the void, and at first, he could only hear silence. Then, as his hearing focused, he shivered. There was a nearly inaudible hissing sound coming from outside in the void, accompanied by odd scraping and skittering sounds. It sounded as if something was crawling on the bottom of the void, brushing against the bottom of the TARDIS. 

“…that sound, you mean?” The Master said very quietly, feeling suddenly unnerved. “What’s making that sound?” The hissing and scratching suddenly began to escalate, and the Master quickly moved to shut the door. He struggled, however, for the door proved nearly impossible to close, the skittering turning to a rough scraping against the TARDIS door.

Something was pushing back.


	5. Chapter 5

“ _Help_ me!” The Master had thrown his whole weight against the door, and was struggling to keep it close. The Doctor stood petrified as a swarm of little black claws seeped through the door, curling around the edge toward the Master.

“HELP!”

The Doctor finally jolted into action and slammed himself against the door, and it finally shut with the force of both of them. Whatever was outside gave a screech, and the little silvery black teeth-claws clattered to the ground, scattering on the floor. The Doctor jumped away from them, for they still moved, flailing weakly on the ground. He and the Master watched them, terrified. Then, finally, each little claw shuddered into stillness, laying motionless on the floor. They looked like tiny curved razor blades, as if they were the claws of a cat. But they had little teeth, and the Doctor realized with alarm that they were quickly burning a hole through the TARDIS floor.

“…the hell..?” The Master backed away from them, watching them eat at the TARDIS floor. The Doctor flailed and made a strangled sound, kicking at them and stomping.

“Get them out of my TARDIS - “

“It’s not just your TARDIS!”

“I don’t care, get them out!” The Doctor screeched, trying to stomp them into oblivion. “They’ll eat into the core!”

“Out of the way, out of the way!” To the Doctor’s bewilderment, the Rani rushed in and scooped all the organisms up into a large glass box, shutting the lid. They scrambled around inside it, flailing from the injuries the Doctor had inflicted upon them. Then they settled into the corner of the box, twitching, nearly behaving like a liquid.

The Rani set the box down and blew on her hands, looking like she was in pain.

“Those things _burn_!” The Rani looked to the Doctor and Master as if their confusion was completely unjustified. 

“You were unconscious! How did you - why do you even have a box like that?” The Doctor looked at the Rani, who shrugged. 

“I got knocked out, and I woke back up. And I have boxes like these because I am a scientist. You never know when you need to contain organisms. Now, what are these little things? And why did you let them in the TARDIS? Where are we? I must have all this data, promptly if you please.” The Rani picked up the box, seeming completely unfazed by the scratching against the TARDIS door, and the clawing from inside the box.

“Don’t ask so many questions at once, it’s irritating,” the Master grumbled, looking warily on the floor to see if there were any more of the black claw-things. “And we don’t know where we are, much less what those are. There are swarms of them outside.”

The Doctor nudged at the burn marks on the TARDIS floor with his foot, trying to smooth them over. “Rani, you’re not going to keep those, are you?”

“Of course I am! I have never seen the likes of such a species. And they seem to burn through anything they touch, besides glass. Or at least, they eat away at it,” the Rani said nonchalantly, trotting off to her TARDIS with the beasts.

“Rani! You can’t keep those - ” The Master began, but the door to her section of the TARDIS was already shut. “…damn her. If she lets those out and they eat the inside of the TARDIS, I will personally snap her neck. We cannot afford recklessness right now.” The Doctor nodded faintly; he was listening at the door rather than the Master’s words.

“…the sound is gone,” he said faintly, and the Master looked at him. “…I want to see what’s out there.” The Master gave him a look as if he was insane.

“Do you have a death wish? From what we’ve observed, this appears to be the void. The _Time Lords_  don’t even know what’s in here. What if there’s no solid surface? You’ll just fall forever. And what about the little claw-monsters?” The Master stepped in front of the door as if to block the Doctor. The Doctor let himself be moved for a moment, that the Master actually cared about protecting him. It was progress, it was something other than hate…

“Doctor. Are you listening to me?” The Master’s voice turned sharp, and it snapped the Doctor out of his reverie. 

“Yes, I’m listening.” The Doctor paused. “I’m going in there anyway. You can tie me to a rope, and tie that to the console. And you can help hoist me up when I’m done.” He set off to find a rope, determined to go through with this plan.

“I’m not - I won’t - ” The Master finally gave a sigh. “…fine. But if you die, don’t expect me to care.” The last bit made the Doctor’s heart sting, but he didn’t say anything. He walked silently back to the Master with the rope and a harness, tying it around himself. 

“Here.” He kept his voice emotionless, handing the Master the end of the rope. “Tie that to a pillar in this room, and don’t drop me.” The Master did as he was told, and the Doctor began to feel uncomfortable in the prickly silence. He cracked the door open to make sure the swarm did not come back, and he was relieved to be greeted with the endless black grid of the void instead. 

“…please don’t untie the rope.” The Doctor’s voice was very quiet, and he gave the Master a meaningful look. The Master’s eyes were cold and impassive. Then the Doctor turned away and sat on the edge of the TARDIS door, looking down. He could not see where anything ended or began, but he supposed it didn’t matter.

Then he gulped and pushed himself off the edge into the void. He let himself fall, the void’s grid blurring around him, and wondered when he would stop.


	6. Chapter 6

The Doctor did not now how long he had fallen. But when the rope finally came taut, he felt the wind knocked out of him as it dug into him, keeping him from falling. He cursed himself, and realized he should have probably gone a little slower. But no matter. He was down here now, wherever “here” was. And the Master had not untied the rope, thank heavens. The silence was oppressive here, and he could feel it muffling him, pressing down on him from all sides. When the Master called out to him, it seemed terribly loud, even though he knew he was far away. He looked up to see a tiny speck of light from the direction his rope came from, and he wondered if it was the TARDIS.

“…Doctor! Are you all right?” The Master’s voice sounded very far away, and very close. The Doctor looked up at the tiny light, wondering how long it would take to be pulled back up. He clung to the rope, suddenly scared.

“I’m all right!” He called back up, looking around. He let his eyes focus on the gridlines, and they slowly came into view, brighter than when he had been in the TARDIS. He tapped a foot down, and found, to his surprise, that the surface was solid. Perhaps he had just willed it that way, he hardly knew the ways of this universe. He slowly untied the harness, letting himself down, and he found he was able to stand on the gridlines, although he still felt unsettled and shaky.

“I’ve untied myself from the rope. Please keep it there, I will come back,” he called up to the Master, beginning to walk away from the rope. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver for a light, and began to walk along the grid. He turned the sound off the screwdriver and just kept the light, hearing only his footsteps echoing in the dark. He could not hear the rustling of the little scavenger creatures that had attacked the TARDIS before; perhaps they were somewhere else in the void.

He walked along, wondering if there was anything but this expanse of dark gridlines. Sometimes he would hear the odd sound - a skittering sound, a hiss, a faraway scream. At every noise he nearly jumped, but he kept his focus on the little light of his screwdriver, glancing up occasionally to keep track of the light of the TARDIS. He shone the light ahead, watching the grid lines move in front of him as he walked. And then he stopped cold as the light advanced.

There were sillouhettes. 

The Doctor stood there frozen, positive that they could hear him breathe. Whoever “they” were.  He cursed in his head and realized that they could probably see the light. They were Time Lord-esque sillouhettes from very far away, and they appeared to be in front of a large rectangular structure that looked like a building. The figures began to move toward him, seeing the light, and he panicked. 

The Doctor ran in the opposite direction, not wanting to trust whatever was out there. Perhaps the scavengers had taken a solid form, and they lived down here. He sprinted in the direction of the TARDIS, trying to find the rope. He nearly tripped at the sound of the voice, so far away, and so near to his head. He stumbled to a halt.

“…who are you?” The voice sounded again, and it sounded nearly like a normal Time Lord. But there was a strange timbre to his voice, and it sounded oddly flat. The Doctor slowly turned around, and nearly jumped when he saw a humanoid shape in front of him. He turned the light toward it, but the figure’s hand pushed him away, switching off the light. The Doctor winced, pulling his hand away, for the figure’s touch burned. 

“My…my name is…” The Doctor stopped. “Why should I tell you that? …I’m a Time Lord. That is all I will tell you. Now tell me what you are.”

The figure tilted its head, silent, lowering its hand. “We are of the same origin.” It paused, looking at him. “You are from so far in the past. The past I come from.” It reached a hand to touch the Doctor’s face, and the Doctor swatted it away, stepping backward. 

“Are you a Time Lord?” The Doctor hated how his voice shook, but he still looked at the figure where its eyes would be. The figure just looked at him.

“One could say that.” The figure paused. “Are you here to help? If you are here to help, you are welcome. If you are here for any other reason, I’m afraid that you are ordered to leave. The Lady President Romana commands it.”

“So you are a Time Lord…” The Doctor breathed, and then he looked up at it again. “Wait. Lady President? We don’t have a Lady President. We have a Lord President.” 

“As I said. The past. If you are here to help, you may come with me. If not, I must ask you to leave.” The figure’s voice still had that odd tone, as if it was falling flat on the grid.

The Doctor looked at the figure for a moment. Part of him wanted to investigate, to figure out what was going on. But then he felt the burn on his hand, and looked down at it. There was a black mark on the side of his hand from where the figure had brushed it, and it looked charred. 

“I…I will think on it. If I decide to help, I will…I will come back later.” The Doctor gave the figure a quick nod, and then walked off slowly, looking up and following the light of the TARDIS. 

As soon as he was out of the view of the figure, he sprinted toward the rope, grabbing onto it for dear life. He tugged on it, hoping the Master would see.

“Oh god, oh god, please let me up…”


	7. Chapter 7

The Master did not know how long he had waited. He had heard sounds from out of the TARDIS door, and had nearly shut it, fearing that the scavenger claw creatures would come inside again. But he kept it open, hoping that the Doctor would come back safely. He scoffed at himself; this must be a serious situation indeed if he actually gave an arse about the Doctor’s safety.

Then he saw the rope move; the Doctor was tugging on it. He heard no cry for help, though, so he wasn’t sure. What if something had caught the line, and he was dragging something up like the shadowy claws? Then he heard the Doctor’s voice, very faint from such a distance. 

“Oh god, oh god, please let me up…”

The Master blinked. The Doctor sounded terrified. And if the Doctor was terrified…The Master rushed over to the rope and began pulling it up as best he could, straining with the effort.  He heard the Doctor whimpering from below, and nearly let the damn rope go. The bloody infant. But he kept pulling it up, gasping with effort by the time the Doctor scrambled up on the floor of the TARDIS, shaking. 

“Close the door…close the door please…” The Doctor’s voice was weak and terrified, and he scrambled to the console, his breath heaving. The Master ran and closed it, and helped the Doctor up without thinking. He realized he was holding him, and their eyes locked for a second. He dropped the Doctor, turning away with disgust. 

“You idiot. Shouldn’t have gone out there. What did you find, anyway?”

The Doctor looked at him for a long while, seeming absolutely shocked that the Master had touched him. He didn’t say anything, still looking at him, his eyes half afraid, half longing. The Master turned away.

“Answer my question, Doctor. This is something we need to know.” The Master kept his face turned away, unable to look him in the eye. The last thing they needed was ridiculous angsting about a past romance while there was other trouble.

“…I didn’t see any of the claw creatures. But there was an endless grid…and I saw figures shaped like us. Like Time Lords. But they would not let me shine the light at them. I couldn’t see their faces. And one touched me, and - ” The Doctor winced and gave a little cry of pain. The Master finally turned toward him, still trying to maintain no outward emotions. 

“What did they do to you? If there is something medical involved, it is imperative that you tell me immediately. The Rani should be able to help you.” The Master found he was very good at acting like he did not care. The Doctor turned toward him, showing him his right hand. There was a charred black spot on the side, and bits of it were flaking off. The Master began to steer him toward the door, taking care not to touch it.

“Okay, you are going to get medical attention, especially since you don’t know what the hell did that.” The Master hardly cared that he was touching the Doctor, but he found it rather nice as he walked along, however worthless the touches were. The Doctor seemed conscious of this as well, but he didn’t look at him. 

The Master knocked on the Rani’s door, hoping she wasn’t too involved in whatever crazy research she was doing to answer it. The door creaked open a moment later, and the Rani peeked out, wearing goggles and a lab coat. Typical.

“I’m busy.” She slammed the door, and the Master flailed. He found that his arm was around the Doctor and he quickly removed it.

“Rani! The Doctor needs medical attention. If nothing else, research what caused this to happen to him. Then we can fix it!” The Master kicked at the door, thoroughly irritated. The Rani peeked out again.

“Show it to me.” 

The Doctor held up the blackened part of his hand, and the Rani stopped and looked. 

“…that’s similar to the burns I got picking up the claw-scavengers. But much more intense. Come inside.” She took the Doctor by the arm and dragged him inside. The Master followed suit, and then gaped when he saw what was inside. There were boxes and boxes full of the little black claw-teeth, and they writhed around, making horrible scraping sounds. 

“You’re _breeding_  them?” The Master could hardly believe what he saw. The Rani shrugged, setting the Doctor down on a table.

“It happens. They seem to reproduce, so I had to contain them.” She seemed entirely not bothered by this, and the Master wanted to slap her.

“You’re endangering all of us!” The Master flailed a bit, but the Rani ignored him.

“There. I put the same treatment I used on myself, on him. It should work fine. Now, please leave.” The Rani shoved them both out of the room, slamming the door behind her. The Doctor and Master stood there blinking at each other. The Doctor looked down at his hand, which was now covered in a bandage.

The Master began to walk away, but he felt the Doctor follow him.

“Thank you…for hoisting me up like that. I don’t know what it was, that made the burn. …but it used to be a Time Lord.” The Doctor’s voice was quiet, and the Master shivered. “It said we were from its past. And I don’t know what’s going on. They told me to stay if I could help, leave if I could not. But I don’t know what they needed help _with_.” 

“Then we need to go see. Talk to them. What if they find out we have TARDISes, and come up here? We can’t have something like that come up here, especially since we do not know what it is.”

“We?” The Doctor blinked at him, and the Master felt his face flush.

“…yeah. Us. Unless the Rani wants to come, which I doubt. But I’m not letting you go alone.” The Master’s voice was quiet, and he almost felt ashamed. The Doctor gave him a long look, considering him. The Master almost saw warmth in his eyes. But perhaps he was imagining it.

“.We can plan something to pull us both up, now that we have time to plan.” The Doctor looked up at the Master, still shorter than him after all these years. The Master was suddenly very conscious of how close their faces were, and he felt his face flush. The Doctor was the one who looked away first, and he began to walk toward the TARDIS console.

“…let’s go.”


	8. Chapter 8

The Doctor could tell that the Master hated this. They had had to create a makeshift harness for the rope that could hold both of them, but it pressed them uncomfortably together as the TARDIS lowered them down. The Master was looking pointedly away, and so the Doctor decided to look away too, scanning for things. They didn’t fall down this time; they had rigged the TARDIS so that it would gently lower them down until the rope ran out. And when someone tugged on the rope in a certain rhythm, it would pull them back up. It seemed to take ages for them to go down, but it was probably because the Doctor was conscious of how close the Master was.

This was the first time in a while that they had felt each other’s warmth against each other, and the Doctor couldn’t decide whether it terrified him or made him happy. It was someone’s touch, which was nice, because he hadn’t had that in ages. But it was still the Master’s. And he had severed ties with him quite a long time ago. He realized that he could feel the Master’s heartbeats, and he blushed, looking further away.

They finally reached the bottom, and the Master untied them both as fast as he could. He walked away from the Doctor for a moment, brushing himself off. The Doctor took advantage of the opportunity to watch him for a moment, just take him in.

…he still looked like Koschei, after all these years. 

The Doctor looked away, unable to think about that anymore. There were more important things to do, and he couldn’t let past feelings get in the way. He let his vision focus on the gridlines and hesitantly walked forward, stepping in front of the Master. 

“…just…walk along until we find them, I guess.” The Doctor kept his voice quiet, even though it echoed all around them in the void anyway. The Master nodded, and the Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver, lighting the way.

“Do you even know the right direction?” The Master’s voice was lowered, and the Doctor heard a hint of fear. The Doctor shook his head.

“They’ll find us. They’ll see the little light.” The Doctor shivered a bit, and the Master fell silent. Sure enough, silhouettes appeared on the horizon. The Master flinched, stopping. He and the Doctor watched the silhouettes for a moment, and they seemed to glide closer. The Doctor felt his neck prickle, both because there were more of the figures than just one, and that the Master was very close behind him. 

Then a voice sifted through the darkness, sounding both very far away, and very close. 

“You have brought a companion. Have you come to help?” The voice was breathy, and seemed to be coming from one of the silhouettes. The Master stepped forward, although the Doctor saw that he was trembling.

“What do you need help with? We agree to nothing. We are here peacefully.” The Master’s voice was surprisingly calm and cold, and the Doctor moved a little closer to him. 

“It is another young Time Lord…” The figure said, and its companions echoed it. “Time Lord…Time Lord…Time Lord…”

The Doctor piped up, wishing his voice had the dignified calm the Master had.

“What do you need help with? Please answer. We don’t mean harm.” 

And then suddenly, the figures were very close to the Doctor and the Master, surrounding them, blocking out the gridlines with their shadows. The Doctor choked on his own spit, reeling backward into the Master, who gripped his hand. The figures were oppressive, as if they were one giant cloud, surrounding them. It felt as if the two young Time Lords were being sniffed, examined.

Finally, after what seemed like terrible, terrible ages, the cloud receded, and figures materialized far away again. The figures murmured to each other, and the Doctor caught snippets of words.

“…Not harmful…very young…so very young…”

“Answer our question!” The Master snapped, stepping toward them. “And who are you?”

“We look to escape. We have run so far, so very far. We were the chosen few, picked by Lady President Romana, to try to find a way out. But all we have found is this blackness. Please help us get out of the blackness…” The figure’s voice took on a childlike, pleading quality, and the Doctor felt oddly drawn to it, feeling horribly guilty suddenly for not helping. Of course he had to help, these poor creatures were trapped here…

“If this Romana person is your leader, we need to speak to her before we decide to help you. We have no obligation to help you.” The Master’s voice was sharp and clear, and the figures scattered a bit as if he had blown on them. The figures seemed to ignore him, however, moving around, looking as if they were frightened. The Doctor thought he heard that horrible skittering sound, but perhaps he was imagining it.

“…Listen. Don’t you hear it? They are coming.” The figures moved restlessly about, moving toward the two Time Lords. The Doctor felt his stomach twist horribly as he realized the skittering noise was very real, and increasing in volume. It was not coming from the figures, but rather behind the Time Lords, and the Doctor suddenly found himself unable to speak, terrified. He grabbed for the Master’s hand, unthinking, pulling him toward him. 

“It’s the things, the claw scavenger things, oh god…” The Doctor couldn’t stop himself from babbling like an idiot, but the Master barely seemed to notice. His eyes were focused ahead, where an immense cloud had formed over the gridlines. The cloud suddenly rushed forward toward them, hissing and writhing, its claws clicking together and scraping. The Doctor moved around blindly, trying to move away, but he could find nowhere to go.

In the midst of the chaos, he heard one of the figures speak.

“…they are hungry.” 


	9. Chapter 9

“You helped us.” The Doctor’s voice was trembling, and he still did not let go of the Master. The Master did not mind this for now. The figures remained silent for a while, and the Master saw that they were having trouble materializing back together. There were holes in their shadowy forms, and odd parts were dangling off. Finally, he heard a breathy voice, ragged with pain.

“Your best option is to help us now. You are in our good graces, and I strongly advise you to stay that way.”

The voice didn’t need to say anything more; the Master could hear what it really meant, and the underlying threat. _If you do not help us now, we will destroy you just as we did them._

The Master remained silent for a moment, and then spoke. 

“How can we possibly help you escape? We’re trapped here too.” The Master felt his voice shake a little, and hoped none of them noticed. “We still need to meet Romana, your leader. We will do nothing you say unless we can see her.” 

The figures swished back and forth, seeming to converse with each other merely with motions. The Master moved closer to the Doctor, wanting very much to go back to the TARDIS. This had been a very stupid idea. 

“We smell a TARDIS. It is strange, however. It appears to be much more complex than the TARDISes we are used to, although you are from the past.” The main figure tilted its head, and the others mimicked it. “…you will use it to help us.”

“It’s dysfunctional.” The Doctor waved his hand dismissively, stepping forward. “The reason we are here is because our ship crashed.” The Master suddenly felt the Doctor send a thought into his mind, and he had to stop from flinching. _Whatever they are, they’ll hijack it. Keep them away from it._

“If you wandered in via a rip, I am sure there are others in the void. We can help you find one. But our ship is inert, I am afraid.” The Master was probably the only one who could hear how the Doctor’s voice shook, and even then, it was very minute. 

“Please help us…” The figures’ voices took on that childlike tone again, and the Master shook his head, trying to clear the odd effect it had. The drums grew louder in his head, as if trying to combat the effect. 

“We said we’d help you. But please take us to see Romana. We would like to negotiate with your leader.” The Doctor held up both hands in a neutral gesture, and the figures merely peered at him, swishing back and forth. The Master noticed the odd holes in them as they moved, and stifled a gag as he realized the claw creatures had probably eaten at them. 

“Lady Romana does not travel here. We will contact her, to see if she is willing to make a visit. Until then, you are allowed to stay in your ship. However, we would advise you not to leave.” The figures’ voices returned to a more adult timbre, and the Master stepped backward a little. 

“Then we’ll be leaving now. I am sure you will be able to detect if we leave. I ask you to please leave us in peace,” the Doctor said, and the figures nodded. The Doctor took the Master’s hand and slowly walked them away from the figures, checking every so often to see if any were behind him. As soon as they were far enough away, he broke into a sprint, the Master close behind him. They followed the little TARDIS light until they reached the rope, and the Doctor tugged on it three times, activating the mechanism to pull them up. 

The Doctor clung to the Master without abandon now, shaking violently as the rope hoisted them up. The Master held him there only because he was afraid he would fall. As soon as they reached the TARDIS door, both Time Lords scrambled inside, slamming the door shut. The Doctor lay on the ground, breathing hard, and the Master hoisted himself up, leaning on the TARDIS console. He suddenly felt awkward, realizing his face was flushed, and was glad that the Doctor had stopped touching him. 

The Rani walked in, seeming not to care that both of them looked terrified.

“Well, I’ve found out what the little buggers feed on - ” The Rani’s words were cut off as the TARDIS suddenly jolted, throwing all of them to the floor. It continued to lurch, throwing them around, and the Master scrabbled for something to hold on to.

“What the - ” He grabbed the underside of the TARDIS console, clinging to it until the machine shuddered to a stop. The Rani was the first to clamber upward, and she stopped in front of one of the windows, horrified.

“…get away from the windows. Now.” The Rani backed away, and sprinted back toward her lab. The Master looked up, and saw what she was looking at. Holes were melting through the window, and that horrible scraping sound filled the room again. He grabbed the Doctor, pulling him up, but stood frozen, looking at the windows. All he could see was claws, teeth, and shadows.


	10. Chapter 10

The Doctor hadn’t known that the TARDIS glass could melt, and it distressed him greatly that it seemed to be doing so now. He clung to the Master, absolutely terrified, able to do nothing but watch the claw-shadow parasites eat their way through the windows, spilling into the TARDIS. The scraping noise was horrible, and he was unable to tear his eyes away from the monsters, having no idea what to do. 

The Rani stood in front of the two other Time Lords, looking around as if wondering where to start. She turned to the largest mass of the creatures and whipped out a spraybottle, spraying out a clear liquid that the Doctor could barely see. A cloud of it hit the creatures, and the scream that resulted was absolutely horrendous. The creatures writhed and shrieked, reversing their direction, and flooded out of the TARDIS, sounding as if they were in absolute agony. As soon as they were gone, the Rani brushed her clothes off a little, looking at the incredulous Doctor and Master.

“How did you…?” The Doctor gaped, his ears still ringing from the terrible shrieking from merely moments before.

“While you boys were exploring, I had plenty of time to figure out what would hurt them, or at least make them go away. I haven’t managed to kill a single one yet, but I’m working on it. Something stronger than what I’ve already made should suffice.” The Rani spoke as if they were talking about something mundane over dinner, as if her strange experiments were completely normal. Which, the Doctor supposed, they were. For her, at any rate. She pocketed the spraybottle and giggled at them a little.

“You’re _clinging_.” The Rani smirked a bit, and the Master and Doctor immediately let go of each other, both rather affronted. The Doctor looked over to the glass, which had already begun to repair itself, thankfully. 

“That’s irrelevant, Rani. What is imperative is that you tell us what exactly you have been doing with these creatures, and what is in that bottle - ” The Master stopped, and they all turned toward the TARDIS door. 

Someone was knocking.

“There’s no one out there!” The Rani hissed. “Nothing but those creatures! I’m sure of it!” The Master elbowed her, and after a few moments, the knock came again. The Doctor stepped forward tentatively, but then froze when a voice sounded through the metal of the door.

“This is the Lady President Romanadvoratrelundar, and I demand entrance.” 

“Romana _what_?” The Master mouthed, looking at the Doctor, who shrugged. He reached forward and tentatively opened the door. As soon as the door creaked open an inch, it slammed open, sending the Doctor stumbling back, flailing. A woman stood in the entrance, hanging onto the doorframe for dear life. She stumbled inside and slammed the door shut, gasping for breath.

“Romana…” The Doctor breathed, looking at the woman, who stood tall, but not quite as tall as either of them. 

“Use my full name, or Lady President, if you please.” Romana looked them over. 

“How…what…explain!” The Master flailed a bit, looking outraged. “Who are you? Those figures, out there, they spoke of you! And you just think you can come in and walk into our TARDIS?”

“Shadow figures?” The Rani was a bit confused, so the Doctor briefly explained, whispering in her ear. The Rani nodded, looking unnerved. 

Romana gave the Master a look. “They told me that you wished to see me. It is not often that I enter the void, but this seemed to be important.”

“We wanted to know what your purpose was. There are figures out there who spoke of you, who said you were their leader. Who are they, and who are you? We only will consider helping you if you give us information.” The Doctor spoke up, speaking with more courage than he actually had, hoping the woman wouldn’t notice the trembling in his voice. “If you are Lady President, are you from Gallifrey?” The Doctor noticed that Romana was staring at him, perplexed, and walked backward a bit.

“I am from Gallifrey, yes.” Romana tilted her head, and let her gaze drift away from the Doctor, closing her eyes for a moment. “I know who all of you are; I’m from your future. But I can’t tell you much more than that.”

The Doctor looked at her warily. “Why do you need us to help you escape? If you’re able to enter and exit as you please, why can’t they?”

Romana sighed, and sat down. “They…were Time Lord refugees, running away from Gallifrey. There is a massive war going on, one we can’t escape…and I was trying to help my friends and loved ones escape. I wanted at least a few Time Lords to live, to survive this, in case it turned even worse than it had. But they have not been able to find a way out, and the void has eaten them, bit by bit. Those shadow creatures you saw? They are parasites, and they feed on time energy. Naturally, a Time Lord is a perfect meal, for all of us are space-time events. So they fed on them slowly, ripping them apart.” 

There was a stunned silence, and she continued. 

“As I said before, I am Lady President. I cannot leave Gallifrey, I can only pop back and forth between here and there. I cannot stay permanently; people would suspect. But I beg of you, please help us. Your TARDIS-complex is an anomaly. We saw it form a rip, when you arrived, but the rip closed. If your ship is powerful enough to do that, it could do it again, and we could escape.” Romana lowered her head. “Please. Help us.” 

The three young Time Lords looked at each other, pondering what Romana had said. The Doctor nudged at the Master’s mind _,_ giving an echo of the thought to the Rani. _They were threatening us, before. It is best to just cooperate. They might be able to help us get out as well._ Both nodded slightly, and the Doctor looked at Romana, stifling the nervousness he felt.

“All right, we’ll help. Tell us what you wish us to do.”

Romana’s expression turned to one of utmost relief, and she gave a grateful nod to the Time Lords. The Doctor looked more closely at Romana, and for a second, her whole figure flickered, flashing a bit. He shook his head to clear it and looked at her again, but it didn’t happen again. It was probably a trick of the light. 

“Thank you. If we escape, we will take you with us, and I will try to repay you as best I can.”


	11. Chapter 11

The Master didn’t trust a single being in the entire conglomeration of TARDISes. Not Romana, not any of the shadow figures, not the Rani, not the Doctor. The Doctor came the closest to trust, but like hell would he let himself be as vulnerable as he had been again. The drums pounded in his head, and he eyed all of them, hating that they had gotten into such a dead-end situation. He did not want to help these Time Lords, he just wanted to get out, and away from every single person within the entire void-universe. 

When Romana demanded that they let the decrepit shadow Time Lords into their tri-TARDIS, he nearly spat in her face.

Who knew what they were made of, what they would do to the TARDISes? His TARDIS was new, and it had probably already been damaged by the idiocy of the Time Lords who had decided to merge her with the Doctor’s and Rani’s. But he couldn’t help nearly feeling the Doctor tremble a few feet away, and he didn’t want to make anything worse. 

They all finally agreed to let Romana and her band of refugees into the TARDIS eventually, but the Master persuaded her to let them rest first. Romana exited the TARDIS to leave them be, and the Master promised that they would call her back within a day’s time. As soon as the door was closed, the Rani promptly turned on her heel and went straight back to her lab, seeming merely annoyed that her work had been interrupted, and not that they were in a life-threatening situation. 

The Master slumped against the front door once she was gone, trying to get the drums to quiet down so he could think. The Doctor paced a little in front of him, wringing his hands and looking rather upset. The Master put a hand to his head, focusing on the drums rather than the man in front of him, anything to make his head quieter. 

He felt the Doctor come over to him, even though his eyes were closed, simply because of the warmth of the other man. His eyes flickered open and he looked up at the Doctor, not openly hostile, but not welcoming either.

“There’s such a thing as personal space, Doctor.” It came out a bit snippier than he had meant it to, but the drums were terribly loud and he felt that if he let go of his self control, he would tear everything apart around him. The Doctor flinched and turned away a little.

“You looked ill. I was wondering if you were all right.” The Doctor’s voice trembled, and he walked over to the console, leaning on it, his head bent. For a moment, the Master was moved by the concern the Doctor showed, but it quickly twisted within him, and he could only feel resentment and hate. It took all he had not to say, “Oh, now you care if I’m unwell? Not going to run off this time and leave me here?”

“I’m fine,” the Master managed, turning to get the hell out of there before he said something he regretted. He had become better at controlling the drums as of late, but right now, he could barely keep them in.

“Master, please - ” The Doctor took the Master’s hand, stopping him, and the Master flinched violently. “Let me help.” The Master looked at him for a moment, and for that moment, all he could see was Theta. _Theta. Theta Sigma._

 _“Come on, Ko!” The blonde boy tugged him down the grassy bank of the lake by the hand, and Koschei followed along as best he could, trying not to sneeze too much. It was spring, and his allergies were always horrid. But he could not resist coming outside with Theta when he was asked to; he never wanted to see that boy become sad at his own doing._  

_Theta giggled and sat them down on the grass, pulling Koschei close. He let his bare feet dangle in the water, and he leaned on the dark-haired boy, nuzzling him. Koschei stifled another sneeze, but felt his hearts soar just at being next to Theta._

_“Hey. Hey Ko.” Theta tugged on his sleeve, and Koschei looked at him, smiling bemusedly at the always-enthusiastic boy. Theta pulled him down and kissed him, curling both arms around his back, pressing close. Koschei leaned into the kiss, getting lost in it, and for a moment, he could hardly hear the drums at all._

The memory shattered into pieces as he realized the _Doctor_ had pulled him close, and was kissing him. His arms came around by default again, and he kissed him back, even though he felt as if his hearts were being ripped apart. It was so, so good to have his Theta in his arms, but he hated Theta, and - 

“Get away,” the Master broke the kiss, the drums pounding, and he curled up around himself, stumbling backward from the Doctor. The Doctor looked absolutely heartbroken, but the Master couldn’t bring himself to look at him any longer. 

“Master, I - ” The Doctor’s voice choked. “Please let me help. I want to help you.” 

The Master shook his head and stumbled into the next room, the drums nearly overpowering now. He curled up in the corner, trying to get the taste of the Doctor out of his mouth, out of his mind. The drums escalated and escalated, pounding in his head, and he wasn’t even sure if he was screaming. He wasn’t sure if he felt arms around him, or whose they were, if they were there. The pain grew unbearably hot and driving, and the drums soon overpowered him into blackness.


	12. Chapter 12

The Doctor didn’t know how long he held the Master in his arms that night. All he knew was that it was hours and hours before the other man finally uncurled, his hands finally coming away from his head. Red marks were etched on his face from his nails, and tear stains added to the marks on his face. The Master looked up at the Doctor, his eyes red, and recoiled.

“…you stayed. You never stay.” The Master’s voice was brittle and shaky, and the Doctor almost flinched.

“You needed help.” And that was the only thing the Doctor would say. He stayed silent as he helped the other man up and into new clothes, keeping him steady. Sometimes they had had moments like this in the past, where the Doctor would help the Master through the drums, although they were rare. When they did happen, they were almost never spoken of. The Doctor would never let the Rani know this, and he would certainly never bring it up with the Master. This silent tenderness, the way their skin brushed against each other as they did this? It was never mentioned, although the Doctor thought of it often afterwards. 

Finally, they finished, and the Doctor looked to the Master.

“Are you going to be all right?”

The Master pondered him for a bit. “I’m always all right.” And of course the Doctor knew he wasn’t all right. That was okay, however. The Doctor would have said the same thing, had he been asked.

They met the Rani in the main console room after they had collected themselves, and the Doctor tried to stay away from the Master, wanting desperately to touch him, but not wanting to make more awkwardness. 

“Romana says that she wants us to guide her and her shadow Time Lords up to the TARDISes. She told me that when we were ready, we were to fetch her. I, for one, plan on staying inside.” The Rani was fiddling with a vial on the side of her belt, and the Doctor assumed it was some sort of defense against the shadow-claw creatures. “If they try anything funny, I have things to use against them. I figure that they have a similar biological chemistry to the creatures I’ve been studying, so I have some poisons prepared.”

“They’re Time Lords! You can’t kill them, that’s horrible!” The Doctor burst out before he could stop himself, and both the Master and the Rani gave him a look. 

“We’re only working with them so they won’t attack us, Doctor. You saw what they did to the shadow creatures, when they protected us, and we owe them. I’d rather be safe than sorry. Good on you, Rani.” The Rani smirked at the Doctor, and the Doctor scowled. 

“So the Master and I will fetch them, then? And you’ll help pull up the rope?” The Doctor tried to keep from sounding too annoyed, but he was sure it was evident. The Rani nodded. 

“Run along, boys. I’ll be waiting back up here when you get back. And make sure Romana comes along; I don’t trust them without her.” 

The Master gave the Rani an affirmative nod, and guided the Doctor toward the door, opening it and pitching the rope out. He gave a heavy sigh and did not look at the Doctor as they descended. The Doctor clung to him anyway, not caring if the Master thought it was annoying. It was his only chance to hold the Master right now, and he’d take advantage of it. The Master didn’t express any outward dislike of this, but then again, they didn’t have any choice but to cling together. 

Finally, they reached the bottom, and the Doctor resurfaced from burying his face in the Master’s neck. The grid and void seemed different than it had before, more grey than black. And it wasn’t completely silent, either. Sometimes he’d hear voices, or animal cries, or mechanical sounds. And of course, the ever present scraping and hissing of the scavenger creatures from far away. He thanked Rassilon that they weren’t anywhere near a swarm of them for the moment. 

As they walked along, occasionally he thought he saw things through the greyness, but he was probably hallucinating. The dark often did that to a person. He looked up and around them and he seemed to see more and more as he looked up toward where the TARDIS was, but they were all just little flickers of images, nothing blatantly obvious. He took the Master by the arm, feeling nervous. 

“…Romana?” The Master called out into the grey, for neither of them could see any of the shadow Time Lords, or the Lady President herself. And in a sudden whoosh, they were upon the two men, surrounding them, seeming to have suddenly materialized from the void. The Doctor let out a cry and clung to the Master, but the shadow Time Lords merely circled around them, not making any advances to attack.

“W-Where is the Lady President Romana?” The Doctor asked them, hating how his voice shook. They hissed and shivered for a moment, seeming to talk amongst themselves. Then one figure stepped forward, although it seemed all of them were speaking at the same time when he began to talk. 

“She will be here shortly - ah!” The shadow figure turned its head backward, for Romana had flickered into existence behind it, looking militant and emotionless. Romana pushed through the shadow figures, and they scattered like dust, forming a cloud around all three Time Lords now. Romana’s figure kept flickering, and she shook her head a little, as if trying to clear a haze.

“Please take us to your TARDISes.” Romana said, nodding at all the shadow figures, who created an ordered formation behind her. The Doctor and Master nodded and set off in front of them, leading them to the rope that would take them up to the TARDIS. The Doctor tugged on the rope three times, and climbed up a little with the Master to allow a shadow figure and Romana to ride below them. They would hoist the rope up and down for the rest of them, but could only fit four at a time.

The shadow Time Lord was under the Doctor’s feet, and he squirmed, feeling rather uncomfortable that he was nearly touching it. It almost felt as if the figure’s form was eating at his shoes, and he eased himself a little higher, clinging to the Master again. They finally reached the top, and the Rani set the rope to lower down again to get more shadow Time Lords. Romana and the first shadow Time Lord stumbled in after the Doctor and Master, and Romana whipped her head around, processing her location, as if storing the data for later. The Rani peered at her, suspicious.

“How exactly are you going to get us all out of here?” The Rani asked, but Romana was already whirling around the TARDIS console, the shadow Time Lord following her. 

“Hey - No! What are you doing?” The Doctor ran after Romana. “That’s my TARDIS console, she only will go for me!” 

“I know more than you do, Doctor, this TARDIS is so primitive, compared to when I come from…” Romana flipped controls and switches, looking almost manic. “But I’ve never seen a tri-TARDIS before…perhaps they could be used in the war…” 

“You are _not_  using our TARDISes in the war, Romana!” The Doctor burst out, but Romana had already done something to the TARDIS, for it made a horrible screeching sound and careened upward, throwing them all to the floor. The Rani let out an outraged cry and scrambled up along with the Master.

“What are you doing? Your shadow Time Lords are still there! And the door’s open, for crying out loud!” The Rani grabbed Romana and shoved her to the ground, trying frantically to regain control of the TARDIS. The Doctor and Master scrabbled up after her, grabbing onto the console as the TARDIS pitched and shuddered and turned about. Through all the clamor, the Doctor thought he heard that scraping sound, but he could hardly think about that now. 

The rope whipped wildly outside, and the Doctor could see the grey grid warp and twist in the void, feeling sick. He frantically worked at the console, but the tri-TARDIS was out of control and would not stop spinning. A terrible roaring sound shook the entire ship, and a harsh orange light began to shine through the door. The Master pitched forward and shut it, leaning against it and looking up at the viewscreen, terrified. 

An immense rift had opened in front of them, and all the Doctor could see was flames, war ships, and death. Then that horrible scraping sound overpowered the roaring, and the Doctor saw why. A huge swarm of the creatures raced toward the rift alongside the TARDIS, as if captured by one of the TARDIS’s forcefields. Romana pulled up the communication screen, her figure flickering madly, and all three Time Lords let out cries out outrage, lunging toward her.

Romana’s voice was shaking, nearly fading out along with her figure. 

“Lord Rassilon, we have brought you a weapon sure to win the war, and let it rage across all universes, out of the Time Lock. The Time Lords will be victorious. I have done my duty, Lord President, and gladly…”


	13. Chapter 13

“Lord Rassilon, we have brought you a weapon sure to win the war, and we shall let it rage across all universes, out of the Time Lock. The Time Lords will be victorious. I have done my duty, Lord President, and gladly…” 

Romana’s form flickered once more and disappeared, leaving the TARDISes hurtling toward the rift, filled with shadow Time Lords. The Master scrambled for balance, hardly able to see or hear. The drums were pounding in his mind, and he could barely make out the Doctor or the Rani in the midst of all the shadow Time Lords. He heard the shrill scraping and clicking of the creatures outside, and the door of the TARDIS slammed open again, leaving them very close to a deadly abyss. 

“Goddamnit, SHUT THE DOOR!” The Rani screamed, holding onto the console. She and the Doctor were whizzing desperately around the console of the Doctor’s TARDIS now, trying to steer it away from the horrible rift in front of them. The Master floundered, for the TARDIS was still full of shadow Time Lords, and like hell was he going to lock them in here with them. The tri-TARDIS continued to spin, and Master heard a terrible ripping sound coming from where his TARDIS console was, and the Rani’s TARDIS console as well. He ran toward his own, watching in horror as the door to it flickered in and out of existence, slowly tearing away from the Doctor’s TARDIS. 

“Ushas! Your TARDIS! The shadow creatures are eating away at where it’s connected!” The Doctor seemed to have noticed the same ripping sound, and the Rani bolted from the Doctor’s TARDIS console, leaping into her own. She threw one of the vials attached to her belt at the wall and it shattered, the mixture inside spreading out through the TARDIS like mist. The shadow Time Lords screamed as it touched them, and a few disintegrated, leaving the Rani enough time to shut her TARDIS door. 

The Master froze, not knowing what to do. His TARDIS appeared to be stabilizing, but he still heard the ripping sound grow louder, and he couldn’t risk losing his TARDIS. Then, however, he realized the ripping sound was not coming from his TARDIS, but the Rani’s. Her face appeared on the viewscreen of the Doctor’s TARDIS, flickering in and out.

“My TARDIS is ripping away from yours, Doctor - ” The Rani ducked the blow of a shadow Time Lord, letting out a cry, and then appeared on the screen again. The Doctor and Master could barely focus on her, for they too were under assault. “I’m ripping away on purpose now; the shadow creatures are eating away at the bond. I want you to use the energy from the breaking to help close that rift- ” The Rani flickered off the screen, and the Master clung to his TARDIS’s door frame. She came back after a few moments, swearing.

” - The creatures are feeding off the edges of that rift. But if you shoot the energy in the opposite direction, it’s a big enough force to distract them, and the rift should close on its own. I’ll be near the rift, trying to help it close. Got that, boys?” The Rani was bracing herself against the console now, and she threw another vial at the wall, coughing. 

“I-I’ll try as best I can!” The Doctor shouted, and the Rani flickered off the screen. The Master, feeling that his TARDIS was stable again, ran to the Doctor’s side. In that moment, he did not care about their emnities, he did not care what had gone on between them. This was his Doctor, and it was very possible that they would die together. 

The Rani’s TARDIS separated with an incredible roar, and the double-TARDIS left behind reeled, spinning through the voidspace again. The Doctor and the Master struggled to stay upright, and the Master kept his eyes on the viewscreen. The Rani flickered briefly back onto the screen, but only for an instant.

“NOW!”

The Doctor and the Master darted around the TARDIS console, steering it so it would be directly impacted by the incoming energy wave. They were going to have to do this with brute force; the double-TARDIS would simply have to reflect the energy wave physically. The Master put forcefields up around both TARDISes and braced for impact. The TARDISes gave a mighty heave as the energy hit them, and the Doctor turned an immense lever, sending the craft spinning. The energy shot off into the distance, away from the rift. The Doctor and Master watched, trying to stay balanced, and then an immense cloud of the shadow creatures swept over the TARDIS, shooting toward the energy, wanting to feed. The shadow Time Lords that were left in the TARDIS moved to attack the Doctor and the Master, but the Master had seen that coming. 

“Hold on, Doctor!” He grabbed both the other man and the TARDIS console, and he kicked the door of the TARDIS open, not bothering to activate the air shell. There was a terrible sucking sound, and the shadow Time Lords blew out of the TARDIS like smoke, sucked back into the void. The Master wheezed as the air disappeared, and fumbled for the button to close the door again. The Doctor found it first, and they collapsed on the floor as the door closed, air filling the console room once again.

The Master coughed and held the Doctor, feeling the TARDISes shake as the shadow Time Lords tried to get in once more. The Doctor clung to him, and the Master found himself happy to have the touch of this man, even in a situation like this. He kissed the Doctor without thinking, his whole being trembling, and for a moment, the Doctor responded in turn, holding him as if he would never let him go. 

Then the Master realized that the ripping sound had not stopped, even though the Rani’s TARDIS was far gone by now. He leapt upward, still half holding onto the Doctor, and sprinted toward his TARDIS, seeing the door flickering once more.

“Doctor, I have to leave, the TARDIS is going - _don’t lose me!_ ” The Master gave the Doctor one last kiss and dashed into his TARDIS, just in time for the door to close completely. His TARDIS spun away from the Doctor’s, the bond broken, and he opened the door to see blackness, utter blackness. He ran back to the console, trying desperately to locate the Doctor’s TARDIS.

“Not going to lose you again. Not going to let you run away.”


	14. Chapter 14

The Doctor’s TARDIS was gone. More importantly, the _Doctor_  was gone. The Master didn’t know how long it had been since he had lost the Doctor, and he was starting to think that the Doctor had _run_ …on purpose. The Master cursed himself for even thinking that he could have Theta Sigma back; the boy had run away for good so long ago. It was only natural that he’d run away all over again if they met once more. 

His TARDIS was slowly recovering, which he was supposed was a good thing. But nothing could really fix the gaping hole in his hearts. He hated himself for opening them back up in the first place. The drums had returned to their normal clamor, and he realized they had in fact been quieter when the Doctor was around, even through all of the insanity. It made him hate the Doctor even more, for running. 

The Master gave a sigh and turned to the console. It wouldn’t do to sulk. He had to travel, to find some way of getting out of this blasted void. If the Doctor had found a safe way out, and had not taken the Master along, the Master would kill him if he ever found him again. So he traveled for days and days in the darkness, not knowing if he could ever find a way out. Sometimes he wondered if he was dead without having regenerated, and his mind was simply running in a circle now, trying to process what had happened.

It nearly stopped both his hearts when the viewscreen flickered on and someone spoke. He had not heard anyone’s voice in days. Possibly months, even a year.

“You are hereby under arrest.” The voice was cold, and unmistakably Time Lord. The Master stared stonily at the screen, not sure how to react. He had not seen the person before, but it seemed to be some sort of law enforcement official. It was a moment or two before the Master remembered how to speak.

“What for?” The Master’s voice was raspy and hoarse, and he coughed a bit after he finished his sentence. He vaguely mused on the fact that he could not remember when he had last eaten or drank. 

“Escaping house arrest. Destroying the vessel that you were confined inside. And most importantly, tearing a hole in the universe.” The voice was cold, impartial, and the Master began to panic. He focused his TARDIS on the source of the sound, desperate for a way out even if it meant he would be arrested. The last sentence struck him as odd, however.

“That wasn’t my fault. I didn’t tear that hole. It was the Time Lords’ fault. There’s not supposed to be such a thing as a tri-TARDIS. It’s not our fault it was unstable.” The Master struggled to enunciate, trying to make his voice sound less hoarse even though his throat burned. 

“It is _your_  fault. Theta Sigma and Ushas are unable to be found. Your original crime was murder, and was the most extreme out of the crimes the three of you were imprisoned for. Therefore, the blame defaults to you. You will come to Gallifrey to receive punishment. We have already focused our transporters upon your TARDIS. This is merely an informational message.” The screen flickered and went black before the Master could protest, and he stood there for a moment, livid. Of _course_  the Doctor would get away with it. He always did, with everything. The Rani too, but that didn’t manner. _The Doctor_ would not be punished. 

Before the Master could think about it anymore, his TARDIS gave a heave as the Time Lords began to tug it out of the void, and he clung to the console, praying that his TARDIS would not be damaged too much. After what seemed like ages, the TARDIS slowed to a stop. The doors opened before he could get to them, and he walked outside, trying to keep his pride and dignity. They had transported the TARDIS into the same courtroom where he had been tried for murder, and he looked every last council member in the eye, preferring to die rather than have them see him as weak. The head councilman spoke.

“Koschei - “

“THAT IS NOT MY NAME!” The Master roared, unable to help himself. The councilman merely looked down at him with scorn. “My _name_. Is the _Master._ ”

“With everything you have done, you have lost all rights to that name. You are Koschei. A murderer, a madman, a failure of a Time Lord. And now you have even ripped time and space apart.” The councilman paused, watching his reaction. The Master merely glared at him, livid. He did not flinch. “We have decided on a punishment for you, appropriate for all the crimes you have committed.”

“Go on,” the Master snarled. He had a tiny chance of escape, simply by running, but his pride would not let him. Running was what the _Doctor_ did. The councilman looked displeased to be interrupted, but he said nothing about it.

“As a Time Lord, you were given a set of regenerations. Lives to spend exploring the universe, but never to interfere with. However, we deem that you have committed far too many crimes to deserve them. We thought house arrest would teach you a lesson, but you seem to be particularly dense.” 

The Master wanted to run forward and strike him for that, but held his head high, hoping that dignity would be the most prominent thing that marked him today. He had an idea of what his punishment would be now, but he would _never_ let them see him flinch.

“You murdered nine prominent figures on Gallifrey. _Nine_ , Koschei. Simply because you disagreed with them. Or rather…” the councilman’s tone grew mocking. “It was the ‘drums.’ But we all know you made that up. You were lucky, when we first caught you, that dispersal and disintegration are punishments the Time Lords have abandoned. House arrest was a _kindness._ ”

The Master could hardly hear him over the drums in his head, and the terrible rage that had come over him. “They’re real…They’re REAL!” He couldn’t stop himself from protesting, and someone came up behind him, their arm coming around his neck and covering his mouth. He spat and bit, but the person’s grip was too strong. The councilman continued, unfazed.

“You murdered nine people. Nine of your lives will be taken away in repayment, now that you have caused so many more problems. Two more of your lives will be taken as well. One for the rip in the space-time fabric, and one for the destruction of the tri-TARDIS. You will be left with one life. Your existence is not worth anymore than one life. You are a blemish on the face of Gallifrey.” The councilman fell silent after that, or perhaps he was simply drowned out by the terrible, pounding drums. 

More people came to restrain the Master, and although he fought, they would not let him go. He could hardly think coherently over the incredible clamor, and his head felt like it would explode. They took him to a room and strapped him down, fitting him with wires and needles and tubes. He felt someone shoot a tranquilizer into his neck, and he stopped struggling, unable to move. He heard a voice talk again, or perhaps it was in his own mind. Even the numbers were in a rhythm of four now.

_OneTwoThreeFour_

The Master had never felt such agony, and he writhed and jerked in his restraints, losing all the dignity he had so carefully mustered. Life was literally burning out of him, and it blinded him. The drums were as loud as he had ever heard them, and it felt like they had placed him in the core of a star.

_FiveSixSevenEight_

It increased exponentially as each life was taken away, and he almost welcomed true death. Anything but this burning. It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t his fault, he wasn’t - 

_NineTenEleven —_

And then there was blackness.


	15. Chapter 15

Blind rage. Agony. Darkness. 

And he felt so terribly, terribly old. 

The Master wondered what those lives would have contained, were he to be allowed to live them. He didn’t have much of a chance to wonder, however, for he realized he had to figure out how to survive, and find his TARDIS. They had deposited him on the plains of Gallifrey alone, an old man lost in the darkness.

It was very cold here. It seemed to be winter on Gallifrey, and they had not even had the decency to give him a coat. The drums seemed to echo in the vast valley, and he stumbled blindly forward, not sure where he was going. It felt like there was a gaping wound inside him from where his lives had been torn out, and it ached terribly. He wondered if it would be there permanently. He continued to wander, not knowing how much time was passing, or if he would waste his last life out here, freezing to death.

Then he heard it. He expected that it was a hallucination; it had to be. Only the Doctor’s TARDIS made that noise, and if he was here, the Master would kill him. That man deserved to die as many times as the Master had.

He felt a hand on his shoulder through the cold and whipped around, stumbling backward. The Doctor stepped backward, looking horrified.

“…oh, Koschei.” His voice was nearly lost in the wind, but the pity and horror made the Master nearly sick.

“ _Don’t_ call me Koschei.” The Master hated how weak and shaky his voice was, but he pushed the Doctor with more force than he thought he had in him. The Doctor fell backward into the snow, his face incredibly hurt.

“Koschei is dead. Koschei will always be dead. They killed him. So did you.” The Master’s voice was hoarse and bitter, and he stared directly at the Doctor, absolutely hating him. “I am the Master.”

“Master…” The Doctor pushed himself up, but the Master backed away. “Please come with me. I can help. I came all this way to find you, please let me help!”

“A bit too late for that.” The Master couldn’t help the disturbed chuckle that escaped him, and his lips curved upward in a mirthless grin as he stared at the Doctor. “I’m as good as dead. And I will not be your pet.” He felt hollow as he laughed softly, and he sat down in the snow, every part of his being shaking. The Doctor seemed horrified. The Master liked this.

“I never said you would be a pet, just let me help you!” The Doctor reached out a hand, and the Master stared at it, not even moving his own. “Please!”

“Terrible timing, Doctor,” the Master wheezed, thoroughly amused now. “Get out. Koschei’s dead.”

“You’re not…he’s not…” The Doctor moved forward and tried to pick the Master up, but the Master used all of his strength to give him a cruel smack across the face.

“Don’t you touch me. Don’t you even come near me. You should die eleven times over. I did. You deserve _nothing_. Leave me.” The Master’s words were choked now, and he shoved the Doctor backward, the taller man slamming into the back of his TARDIS. The Doctor coughed and choked for his breath, bracing himself.

“You always run away, don’t you? Every goddamn time. Go ahead and do it again, true to form. I know you will.” The Master could not help the mirthless grin again, and he stared up at the Doctor, trembling violently. “I scare you. I know I do. You don’t like the drums. You don’t like what I am.”

The Doctor finally broke eye contact and turned away, his hand gripping the TARDIS door handle so tightly that it turned white. Then, as if pushed forward by a gust of wind, he looked up, let out a frightened cry and rushed into the TARDIS, slamming the door.

The Master watched as it dematerialized, feeling hollow and cold. He wondered what would have happened, would he have gone with him. He rubbed his eyes, trying to clear his vision, and realized that the TARDIS had landed in front of something that had not been there before. A solitary pillar stood in the snow, and his hearts gave a twisting jolt. Slowly, he pushed himself up, walking toward the pillar, his entire being feeling as if it was going to fall apart. He slipped inside the pillar away from the snow, letting himself collapse against the console when he was safely inside. His hand landed on a note, and he curled up in a sitting position, his hands shaking so badly he could hardly hold it.

_Master -_

_This is in case you do not come with me. …I fetched your TARDIS, Master. They had put it in a TARDIS graveyard, but my TARDIS recognized it. They’re still connected, really. At least a bit. So I figured you would need it. It came along behind my TARDIS, so I tried to bring it to you. I hope it still works all right, and that you will be okay, in the end. Maybe we can find each other again one day._

_Love, the Doctor_

The Master felt his insides constrict, and he crumpled the letter in his fist, holding it close to his hearts. He preferred the snow and bitter wind to this.


End file.
